Water resource management in Malaysia : legal issues and challenges.

The two-wave flood incident in Malaysia in 2006 has raised concerns over the economical, sociological and psychological impact on the victims. Nevertheless, many do not realize that the tragedy has been exacerbated due to the current structure of water resource management system in the country. This paper discusses the complexities of the present legal framework with regard to water resource management in Malaysia. An examination has been made to the current Federal Constitution as well as the Federal legislations. The study proves that the problem related to water resource management in Malaysia is partly due to the unclear division of power between the Federal and the State Governments and the fragmented legislation on Malaysian water

Salt domes of the United Arab Emirates: evidence for late Neoproterozoic sedimentation and rift volcanism in the northern Arabian-Nubian Shield

Seven of the nine emergent salt domes of the UAE have been examined. They outcrop on the Arabian Gulf islands of Delma, Sir Bani Yas, Arzana, Qarnain, Zirku and Sir Bu N’Air, with one on-land salt dome at Jebal Dhanna. The salt domes range from about 1 km across (incomplete remnant of Qarnain) to over 6 km diameter (Delma) and form dissected hilly topography rising to about 140 m above sea-level (Zirku). The majority of the salt domes are single intrusions but two, Delma and Jebal Dhanna, appear to have multiple phases. The diapirs were emplaced penecontemporaneously with the Miocene country rocks, while evidence of recent localised halokinetic reactivation in small dome-like “salt blisters” is seen on a number of salt islands

Prevalence of hepatitis B and C and assessment of responsible risk factors among the vulnerable β-thalassemic patients of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan

Approximately 350 million patients of hepatitis B and 170 million patients of Hepatitis C are present worldwide according to WHO. Many risk factors are involved in the transmission of theses deadly viral infections but blood transfusion in Beta thalassemic patients is working with two faces, one as remedy and the other is key risk factor in the spread of silent killers. Thalassemia patients registered in Combine Military Hospital (CMH) Rawalakot and Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan Hospital, Muzaffarabad Azad Jammu and Kashmir Pakistan were studied for the viral hepatitis B and C prevalence. A total of 303 (including 164 males and 139 females) individuals, aged between 1 and 12 years were studied. All the understudy participants were interviewed through questionnaire method. After taking written consent from each participant or guardian, 5 ml of blood was collected from each participant and brought to the working laboratory for HBV and HCV screening through ICT kit method. All ICT positive samples were further confirmed through ELISA. Individuals 25(8.2%) were found positive for both hepatitis B surface Antigen (HBsAg) and Anti hepatitis C antibody (Anti-HCV antibody) after initial screening with no coinfection of both diseases. Out of 25 total infected individuals, 05(1.6%) were found HBsAg positive and 20(6.6%) were found anti-HCV positive. All the ICT positive individuals were further confirmed by quantitative Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and 23(7.6%) individuals were confirmed for both hepatitis B and C including 05(1.6%) HBsAg positive as well as 18(5.9%) anti-HCV antibody positive individuals. We can conclude that 8.2% prevalence of hepatitis B and C among thalassemic patients is an alarming health concern which directly indicates to pay attention for ensuring 100% safe blood transfusion

RNase L Mediates Transient Control of The Interferon Response Through Modulation of The Double-stranded RNA-Dependent Protein Kinase PKR

The transient control of diverse biological responses that occurs in response to varied forms of stress is often a highly regulated process. During the interferon (IFN) response, translational repression due to phosphorylation of eukaryotic initiation factor 2α, eIF2α, by the double-stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase, PKR, constitutes a means of inhibiting viral replication. Here we show that the transient nature of the IFN response against acute viral infections is regulated, at least in part, by RNase L. During the IFN antiviral response in RNase L-null cells, PKR mRNA stability was enhanced, PKR induction was increased, and the phosphorylated form of eIF2α appeared with extended kinetics compared with similarly treated wild type cells. An enhanced IFN response in RNase L-null cells was also demonstrated by monitoring inhibition of viral protein synthesis. Furthermore, ectopic expression of RNase L from a plasmid vector prevented the IFN induction of PKR. These results suggest a role for RNase L in the transient control of the IFN response and possibly of other cytokine and stress responses

RNase L Mediates Transient Control of The Interferon Response Through Modulation of The Double-stranded RNA-Dependent Protein Kinase PKR

The transient control of diverse biological responses that occurs in response to varied forms of stress is often a highly regulated process. During the interferon (IFN) response, translational repression due to phosphorylation of eukaryotic initiation factor 2α, eIF2α, by the double-stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase, PKR, constitutes a means of inhibiting viral replication. Here we show that the transient nature of the IFN response against acute viral infections is regulated, at least in part, by RNase L. During the IFN antiviral response in RNase L-null cells, PKR mRNA stability was enhanced, PKR induction was increased, and the phosphorylated form of eIF2α appeared with extended kinetics compared with similarly treated wild type cells. An enhanced IFN response in RNase L-null cells was also demonstrated by monitoring inhibition of viral protein synthesis. Furthermore, ectopic expression of RNase L from a plasmid vector prevented the IFN induction of PKR. These results suggest a role for RNase L in the transient control of the IFN response and possibly of other cytokine and stress responses

The Liquisolid technique: an overview

A novel "Powder Solution Technology" involves absorption and adsorption efficiency which makes use of liquid medications, drug suspensions admixed with suitable carriers, coating materials and formulated into free flowing, dry looking, non adherent and compressible powder forms. Based upon a new mathematical model expression, improved flow characteristics and hardness of the formulation has been achieved by changing the proportion of Avicel ® PH 200 and Aerosil ® PH 200 from 50:1 ratio to 5:1 and in which the drug is dispersed in an almost molecularly state. Due to their significantly improved wetting properties a greater drug surface area is exposed to the dissolution media, resulting in an increased dissolution rate and bio availability. By using the Liquisolid technique, sustained drug delivery systems were developed for the water soluble drugs in which hydrophobic non-volatile solvents are used as vehicles.A nova "Tecnologia da Solução Sólida" envolve eficiência de absorção e de adsorção, faz uso de medicações líquidas, suspensões de fármacos e misturas com transportadores adequados, materiais de cobertura e é formulada em formas sólidas em fluxo livre, secas, não aderentes e compressíveis. Com base em novo modelo matemático, características aprimoradas de fluxo e dureza da formulação foram alcançadas modificando-se a proporção de Avicel ® PH 200 e Aerosil ® PH 200 de 50:1 para 5:1, na qual o fármaco é disperso quase que no estado molecular. Devido às propriedades de umidificação significativamente aprimoradas e à área do fármaco exposta ao meio de dissolução, que resulta na velocidade de dissolução, a biodisponibilidade foi aumentada. Utilizando a técnica Liquisólido, desenvolveram-se sistemas de liberação controlada de fármacos solúveis em água, nos quais solventes hidrofóbicos não voláteis foram usados como veículos

Inequalities in the use of secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease by socioeconomic status: evidence from the PURE observational study

Background: There is little evidence on the use of secondary prevention medicines for cardiovascular disease by socioeconomic groups in countries at different levels of economic development. Methods: We assessed use of antiplatelet, cholesterol, and blood-pressure-lowering drugs in 8492 individuals with self-reported cardiovascular disease from 21 countries enrolled in the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study. Defining one or more drugs as a minimal level of secondary prevention, wealth-related inequality was measured using the Wagstaff concentration index, scaled from −1 (pro-poor) to 1 (pro-rich), standardised by age and sex. Correlations between inequalities and national health-related indicators were estimated. Findings: The proportion of patients with cardiovascular disease on three medications ranged from 0% in South Africa (95% CI 0–1·7), Tanzania (0–3·6), and Zimbabwe (0–5·1), to 49·3% in Canada (44·4–54·3). Proportions receiving at least one drug varied from 2·0% (95% CI 0·5–6·9) in Tanzania to 91·4% (86·6–94·6) in Sweden. There was significant (p<0·05) pro-rich inequality in Saudi Arabia, China, Colombia, India, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe. Pro-poor distributions were observed in Sweden, Brazil, Chile, Poland, and the occupied Palestinian territory. The strongest predictors of inequality were public expenditure on health and overall use of secondary prevention medicines. Interpretation: Use of medication for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease is alarmingly low. In many countries with the lowest use, pro-rich inequality is greatest. Policies associated with an equal or pro-poor distribution include free medications and community health programmes to support adherence to medications. Funding: Full funding sources listed at the end of the paper (see Acknowledgments)

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters